Sweet Dreams
by SpaceMonkey0941
Summary: Excerpt: GET TO THE GATE! Sheppard yelled as stunner blasts decimated trees all around them. RononTeyla shipping! This is the oneshot I've been writing for a year, so if you were waiting for it, here it is!


A/N: Hookay, this would be the fabled one-shot that took a year to write. I'm so proud I finally finished it, this has been nagging me for . . . well . . . a year.

A/N2: Dedicated to **fyd818** because she is my inspiration for shippy 'fics. Hugs!

A/N3: Spoilers for . . . anything with Ronon in it I guess . . . "Runner" and "Sateda" are probably the major ones. Does anyone else think Season Three has been the best so far? And has it been because of a certain tall dreadlocked alien? Inquiring minds want to know!

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"GET TO THE GATE!" Sheppard yelled as stunner blasts decimated trees all around them. Rodney was already dialing home, with both Ronon and Teyla guarding him, shooting any Wraith that stuck their heads into the clearing. When the gate activated, Sheppard fell back halfway through it, looking around for the rest of his team. Rodney was running towards the gate, shooting blindly behind him as he went through it. Teyla was still holding her position at the DHD, along side of Ronon.

The big man was in his element, grinning savagely as he swept his blaster in a wide arc that cut down any Wraith in its path.

"Go ahead, we're coming!" Ronon shouted, and John saluted him with his P-90 and stepped entirely through the gate. Seeing this, the Wraith became bolder, and became more aggressive in their attack, but Teyla and Ronon both held their ground and matched their opponents' fire.

Ronon fired again and again, hitting his mark every time, until the last Wraith on his side of the clearing was a lifeless heap.

"Ronon!"

He heard his name yelled and glanced to his right, just in time to see Teyla jump in the path of a beam of energy a Wraith had fired at him.

"Teyla!" he shouted, barely sparing an instant to shoot the offending Wraith before he was at her side, his eyes showing him what his mind refused to believe.

He turned her over gently, hissing through his teeth when he saw the damage the weapon had done. There was a gaping wound in her stomach, and he saw immediately that it was too severe for her to recover. He felt her wrist, trying in vain to find a pulse, but she was already gone.

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In his bed on Atlantis, Ronon sat bolt upright. He found that he was drenched in sweat and was shaking uncontrollably. He pushed the sheets roughly aside, stood up, and walked into the bathroom, where he splashed some cold water on his face, removing most of the haze the nightmare had left in its wake.

He looked up at his reflection in the mirror. _It was just a bad dream,_ he told himself. Bad dreams were a daily occurrence back when he was a Runner, losing sleep over worrying about where he would find food and shelter next, worrying when the Wraith would catch him with his guard down. This was just another nightmare.

_Then why did it feel so real?_

He had no answer for that, but knew that he wouldn't get any more sleep that night. He pulled on a T-shirt over the pj bottoms Sheppard had given him when he had first arrived at the city.

Ronon decided to go for a walk around the city to clear his head, maybe go down to the gym and do some shadowboxing. He left his room, but instead of heading towards the nearest transport to the gym, as he had intended, his feet began to lead him aimlessly about the halls.

After a few minutes of silent wandering, he was thoroughly lost, but he found himself near a balcony that he remembered as being close to Teyla's quarters. He felt a sudden twinge of anxiety as he remembered her part in the nightmare he had experienced, and was overcome with a need to see that she was alive and well.

_This is stupid, it was just a dream,_ the rational part of his mind told him. _It can't hurt anything just to look, can it?_ The other part responded.

His wanderings became less aimless and more purposeful as he neared the final corner of the corridor where her room was located, and –

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They were on Sateda, trying to find Ronon before the Wraith hunter did. Sheppard, Teyla, and McKay had left Dr. Beckett with the puddlejumper, and had split up to search.

Teyla heard weapons-fire ahead of her to her left, and began to run silently to the source of the noise.

She found a clearing, what seemed to be the remnants of a town square of some sort, and was about to advance when a stunner blast decimated the column beside her. She crouched down to avoid the falling rubble, then stole a quick look into the square.

She saw a Wraith shooting at a pile of broken stone blocks, where she assumed Ronon was hiding. She was about to shoot at the Wraith, at the very least to distract it, but a movement behind the blocks captured her attention.

Ronon was kneeling behind the meager shelter afforded by the blocks, but she saw that he was preparing to throw himself to the side and shoot the Wraith. What she could also see, but knew that he could not, was the other Wraith standing on the roof of a building close to Ronon's position. That one was raising its stunner and preparing to fire.

"Ronon!" Teyla yelled as she swung her M-16 upwards to shoot the sniper. He glanced her way, startled to hear a familiar voice. He was even more startled when the body of the sniper Wraith fell to earth inches away from where he was. The shock still showed on his face as he was shot by the original Wraith that he had been fighting. He fell on his side and didn't move.

"Ronon!" Teyla shouted again, this time in fear and anguish rather than warning. However much she wanted to run to his aid, she saw that the Wraith was now making its way towards her position, so she ducked behind a low wall and hurried forward enough so that when she came up, the Wraith had its back to her and she was able to kill it easily.

She spared no moment of triumph, but ran stumblingly over to the body of her friend. Shockingly, she saw that he was still alive, even with the horrible wound in his side. Lifting his head a little, she tried to comfort him, ease his pain.

"Dr. Beckett will be here soon. Do not give up. It will be alright." she soothed as tears began to make their way down her cheeks.

He gave a short laugh that was mostly a cough. "It's too late. I'm tired of running," he whispered.

"No! No, you will be fine" she said. _You have to be fine,_ she thought.

Startled by the wave of emotion she was feeling, she tried to tell herself that he would make it, but her heart told her that he was right. Her mind confirmed it when he gave a small sigh and closed his eyes. He was gone.

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Teyla awoke with a start. She was momentarily disoriented, but quickly realized that she was in her bed on Atlantis, and that the awful dream had been just that - an awful

dream.

She sat up, and realized that there were tears on her face. _It didn't really happen. It was just a nightmare,_ she told herself sternly. _There is no need for this nonsense._ But she just could not shake the feeling of loss she had experienced when Ronon had "died" in her arms.

Deciding that she was not going to get any sleep until she reassured herself that he was, in fact, alive, she rose from the bed and left her room, wiping her face as she went.

She had just turned the corner when she ran into something large and solid. Stepping back, she realized with a start that it was the very man she had been about to visit.

Apparently he was just as shocked to see her, for he stuttered a bit then said "I was just coming to see you. Are you okay?"

A bit surprised by this, she inclined her head and replied, "I have had an . . . interesting night. And you?"

"Same. Bad dreams." He shuffled his feet a bit, embarrassed as always to show any signs of weakness, but his discomfort dissapated as she smiled warmly saying, "Perhaps we should talk. I will make us some tea" and beckoned for him to follow her back to her room. He did so gratefully, and sat down on her bed to watch her as she moved about the room, lighting candles and brewing tealeaves.

She brought a tray over to the bed, set it on the floor, and sat gracefully on the bed beside him. "What was your dream?" she asked. Ronon fidgeted a little, then tried to make it seem less important.

"It was nothing, really. Just a dream. It's silly."

"Tell me." It wasn't an order, it was a request. He looked up at her face, searching for any sign of mockery or ridicule, but all he saw was compassion and concern.

He sighed. "We were on a mission to some planet. We were ambushed by the Wraith . . . there were a lot of them, but you and I were holding them off while Sheppard and McKay got to the gate. I told them –" here his voice broke a little and he sighed again. "I told them that we'd be right there as soon as we finished the Wraith. I killed the last one on my side of the clearing and was just about to run towards the 'gate, but you shouted my name and . . ." his voice trailed off. He cleared his throat before continuing.

"A Wraith that had been hiding behind a tree fired at me, but you jumped between us and he shot you instead. You were . . . you were dead by the time I got to you."

When Ronon finished his story, they both sat in silence for a minute or so. The spell was broken when Ronon cleared his throat again and asked, "Why were you coming to see me?"

Teyla laughed humorlessly. "For almost the same reason, only in my dream, you were the one who died."

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her again, only then noticing the telltale streaks on her face that showed that she had been crying.

_Over me?_ he thought. _She's usually so strong, even when we spar. _It was unnerving to see her weakened. But she hid it well, standing abruptly and smiling at him.

"I do not believe either of us will get any more sleep tonight unless we distract ourselves. Do you enjoy watching the stars?"

Surprised, he grinned and nodded. "My people have incredible stories about the planets."

Her smile widened. "As do mine. Would you like me to show you?"

He stood up, thinking they would go out on one of the many balconies to see the sky, but she shook her head and motioned him to sit. "This room is equipped with a special device that I recently learned how to activate. Lie down and watch."

He did as she requested, wondering what she was talking about. His confusion turned to awe as the lights dimmed and the room was suddenly filled with a hologram depicting many points of light.

"That's amazing!" he managed to stutter. "It's just like the night sky on Sateda!"

He felt her lay down on the bed beside him and knew that she was smiling as she replied, "Yes, you can program it to show the view from many different locations in the galaxy." She pressed a button near her side of the bed and the lights flickered, changing positions smoothly to form a completely different scene. "This is from my home."

She felt Ronon slowly relax beside her as she began to tell the legends her people related to each other over the generations, about how the Ancestors had first brought people to their galaxy, about Atlantis, about the plague that had finished the wonderful dynasty, and about the subsequent feeding forays of the Wraith to Athos.

She fell silent after a while, and Ronon thought she had fallen asleep when she asked softly, "Would you tell me your stories about the stars?" He nodded, realized she couldn't see him, and said, "Of course."

"Good." She reached over and pressed a button on the device, causing the hologram to change smoothly into its former view, and Ronon found himself looking up at the same sky he had seen every night of his life on Sateda.

He frowned a little, wondering where to begin, but he smiled when he remembered one of the stories his grandfather had told that was perfect. His gaze moved slowly over the small points of light, stopping when they reached the one he was searching for. It wasn't very bright, and was small in relation to the ones around it, but it was unusual in its color – a deep red that made the eyes water.

"Do you see that star? The red one up there?" he asked her.

"Yes – what makes it that color? I have never seen such a thing."

He could hear the awe and incredulity in her voice, and smiled as he replied, "My grandfather said it was the blood of a young warrior and a maiden who saved their entire planet by killing themselves."

"They killed themselves?" she repeated, astonished. On Athos, suicide was so rare as to be unheard of.

"I'll start from the beginning." Ronon laughed a bit at her confusion, and cleared his throat.

"Before our people, there were others. Long before their time, there were the Ancestors. Before them, who knows. But there have always been the Wraith." He began his story like every other one his people ever told.

"Generations ago they fed upon us much as they do now, perhaps more often, but always the same. They would come in their great ships, kidnap many of the people, and leave without ever showing their faces.

On one planet they visited, the people had not been culled for many years, and many were beginning to hope that they would be safe. However, their doctors and scientists were smart enough to know that the Wraith would be back sooner or later. They experimented with different chemicals, trying to find a way to kill the Wraith or at least help their people survive the feedings, and finally one doctor stumbled on something he said would make the Wraith unable to feed on them.

When the discovery was announced the whole town clamored at the doctor's gates to be inoculated. However, the doctor refused to begin treating them, saying that the procedure was very dangerous and that he had no idea what the drug would do to anyone to whom he administered it.

Just then, one of the young bloods of the town came forward. His name was Fero Achaea, and he was the fastest, strongest, fiercest warrior of the region. He volunteered to be a test subject, to determine whether the drug was safe for humans. Many protested at this, as he was the favorite of the town, and the doctor refused to give him the drug, saying, "It is as likely to harm you as to help you, young Fero, and our village is not willing to take that risk."

Fero sighed. He knew that the doctors would not approve, but still he wanted to serve his people by making the drug safe for them. He left the doctor's house along with the rest of the crowd, head bowed in contemplation of the problem facing the village. He left the main stream of the crowd and headed to a place he knew of beside the river that supplied the village with water, and he sat underneath a shady tree that he had played in many times as a boy.

Fero had not been sitting there long when he felt someone sit down next to him. Without turning his head he knew that it was Liana Thasos, his best friend and constant companion since childhood.

"You volunteered to be a test subject didn't you." Liana said. He sighed, half-smiling. She always knew his mind as well as hers, sometimes better.

"Yes, but they wouldn't let me. Apparently I'm too valuable for the village to lose," he replied, a note of disgust creeping into his voice. "They all think I'm this big hero, who can fight any foe and win with my hands tied behind my back. They all think that I'm going to lead the village some day. Well what if I can't? I've never done anything for the village. I want to help out but they won't let me!" He sighed angrily, taking up a twig from the ground and bending it roughly. When it didn't break, he scowled at it, as if it were the twig's fault.

Liana shook her head. She had known Fero since they were both very small children. He had been her first friend, ever since they were old enough to run about together and drive their parents crazy with their antics. She hated to see him this way, but she knew that he spoke the truth. She took the hands that were holding the twig and gently took it away from him, forcing his fists to relax. She held his hands in both of hers, staring at his face to see what he was thinking. He stared back, communicating in his glance what a hundred words could not - his anger at the village for not letting him help, his anger at himself for not insisting on being a test subject.

Liana saw it all, as she always had. She knew that he would not be happy unless he could do something for the village.

"Well, I can't say that I like the idea, but if you're going to be heroic and sacrifice yourself for the good of the village I won't let you do it alone." She sighed.

Fero looked at her, confused, then he understood the meaning of her statement and shook his head.

"Liana, I can't let you do that, it's too dangerous." he said.

"Why is it too dangerous for me but it's fine for you to do?" she argued.

"Well . . . that's . . . different." he stammered weakly.

"Why, Fero? Why is it different? We both know that I can beat you sparring as many times as you beat me, and I'm a faster runner than you are. Why is it so different for me?" she countered. Her gaze was no longer gentle, as it had been a moment before, it was now fiery, daring him to contradict her.

Knowing better than to argue with her when she was in this mood, Fero contented himself with frowning at her. However, a thought suddenly struck him, and he switched from defensive to pleading.

"Sika, please. You know that the children need you to look after them while their parents are at harvest. And little Paki crys when you're not at lessons to teach him magic tricks."

Now it was her turn to scowl. "Don't you Sika me, Fero, you know you only call me that when you want the last piece of honeycomb from the children's lunch. And if I would be missed so much, you would be too, if not more. The children love seeing you, and as for Paki, you know he sees you as his big brother and would be devastated if you weren't there. And that's not counting the village elders, they're absolutely infatuated with you. So there." She stuck her tongue out at him, punctuating her point.

They stayed that way for a while, scowling at each other, each refusing to back down. Suddenly Liana sneezed, breaking their concentration. She glared at him while rubbing her nose.

"I'll never figure out how you do that. Every time we have a staring match you make me sneeze." she said accusingly.

He gave her an innocent look before pouncing on her and starting to tickle her.

"But every time you sneeze you start to tickle me, so it's only fair if I turn the tables once in a while!" he shouted through her giggles.

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The doctor looked at the two young people over the tops of his glasses.

"You do know that the village will not let you take the drug?" he said. As they both nodded he sighed. He knew that whatever he said, the pair would find a way to help the village, even if it meant stealing the drug and taking it themselves. Since he did not want them to hurt themselves by accidentally taking too much, or by injecting it improperly, he had to acquiesce to their request.

"You are determined then?" he said, trying to deter them. "It is not something you can just decide to do, you know. Much thought should be given to it."

Again they nodded in unison, and Fero spoke. "We have given it much thought, sir, and we've decided that we are the best choices for test subjects. We are strong, young, and healthy, so you will be able to judge accurately the effects of the drug."

The doctor sighed again, spreading his hands in defeat.

"All right then, come with me." he said quietly as he rose and conducted them into the hospice at the back of his house.

Taking a small container of a blue-ish liquid out of a cabinet, the doctor paused, turned to the two friends, and made one final effort to change their minds.

"One of the ingredients in this serum is the fluid that the Wraith inject while they feed," he said, expecting them to be disgusted at this revelation. He was not disappointed. Fero swore quietly, but Liana touched his arm reprovingly and he subsided.

Liana turned back to the doctor and spoke for both of them. "Anything that will protect our people."

The doctor measured a careful amount of the liquid into two syringes. Liana stuck out her arm, but Fero stopped her. Looking hard into her eyes, he said, "This was my idea, Sika. I'll go first."

She glared at him but stepped aside. He rolled up his sleeve and offered the muscled arm to the doctor, who injected the blue liquid into his veins. Shuddering, Fero staggered a bit, then righted himself.

"Fero?" Liana asked him concernedly. He nodded tersely, unspeaking. His face had gone a shade paler than normal, and he looked nauseous. Quickly Liana turned to the doctor.

"Now me." she said. The doctor, about to refuse, saw the determination in her eyes and quietly injected the serum into her arm. Her reaction was a bit more severe than Fero's. She gasped as the liquid began to make its way through her system, and she began to sway violently. The doctor hurriedly drew a chair from his desk and helped her sit in it, then guided Fero over to a cot in the room.

Fero, now shaking slightly as if he had a fever, called out to Liana, and the doctor helped her to stand and walk over to him. She sat heavily on the cot, and whispered "I'm here," to Fero. He smiled weakly, clasped her hand in his, and passed out.

A second later she followed suit, her silent form slumping over his. The doctor began to record their temperatures and pulses, then moved Liana to a separate cot and covered them both with blankets.

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A multitude of voices washed over Fero as he awoke, but when he opened his eyes he was alone in the room. The voices, strangely alien to him, persisted, and he rubbed his eyes to clear his head. Looking to his right, he saw the still form of his friend, and his heart sank.

Sitting up, he put a hand to his head to dispel the sudden dizziness, and stumbled over to Liana's cot. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he shook her gently, calling her name.

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It sounded like she was in the middle of a crowd, inhuman voices shouting over each other, and Liana tried to wake up, to get out of the rush of sound. She felt sluggish, like she'd been sleeping in the sun for too long, and was unable to open her eyes. Suddenly she heard one voice that sounded clearer than the others, and it was calling her name.

"Liana! Liana, please wake up!" Fero begged. He was starting to really worry now. He'd been trying to wake her for what seemed like ages, and his relief was immense when she finally cracked open an eyelid and stared blurrily at him.

"Fero?" she asked sleepily.

He sighed, glad that she was awake but concerned as to both of their reactions to the serum.

"Yeah, Sika, it's me. How're you feeling?" he asked.

She struggled to sit up, then rubbed her eyes.

"Like I just got over the plague," she answered.

He nodded. "Me too."

She looked around. "Where are those voices coming from?" she frowned confusedly.

"I haven't been able to figure it out," he said, also frowning. "I don't think they're speaking our language."

She nodded slowly. "It's like they're not speaking Katani, but I can understand them anyway."

He agreed.

As the doctor came in, Fero asked him about the voices. The doctor frowned at him.

"What voices?" he asked, concerned. No one was in the hospice but the three of them.

Fero and Liana exchanged a strange glance. "All those voices, can't you hear them?" she asked the old man.

When he shook his head, Liana sucked in a breath. She had a very cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. Apparently Fero felt it too, for he grabbed the edge of the cot as support.

Suddenly the voices and the cold feeling made sense to Liana, and she burst out, "Wraith!"

Fero, too, was beginning to understand the murmurings of what they now knew to be the voice of the communal Hives of their enemies. He trembled as he spoke, "They know we're here. They know we can sense them. They're coming to wipe us out."

Wide-eyed, the doctor began to madly check the instruments and machines that had been observing Fero and Liana.

"I don't understand it," he kept muttering.

The two young people silently glanced at each other, then quietly slipped out of the room while the doctor's back was turned.

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Running to the very outskirts of the city, Liana turned the events over in her mind. She could feel the Hive getting closer, locking in on their location, and she knew that in a matter of hours they would be attacking. Next to her ran Fero. They both knew that there was only one way to save their planet.

As they reached the woods that bordered the fields, he grabbed her hand and guided her through the trees to a clearing they had discovered as children. There they stopped running, and stood panting for a minute.

Liana moved first, walking swiftly to a tree in the very center of the clearing, and reaching up to an indentation in the trunk. This had been where she and Fero had stored their most precious treasures for years.

She withdrew two knives, beautifully made and never used. They had been a gift to her from her grandfather when she turned fifteen. Turning back to Fero with tears in her eyes, she wordlessly handed one of the knives to him. . . ."

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Here Ronon stopped his narrative. He turned his head to look at Teyla. She had fallen asleep, and had unconciously moved closer to him. Smiling gently, he slipped an arm around her shoulders and brought her even closer, while with the other hand he tugged a blanket up to cover them both.

Sighing happily, Ronon closed his eyes. The rest of the story didn't matter. Fero and Liana killed themselves, and the Wraith couldn't find the planet, so their people were saved. Ronon chuckled deep in his throat. It had used to be one of his favorite stories as a young boy, but now all he could think about was the fact that Teyla was here, was safe, and was happy. That was all that mattered.

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They were back in the clearing, again being shot at. Sheppard and McKay had already gone back through to Atlantis, and Ronon and Teyla were finishing off the Wraith who were hiding behind the tree-cover.

"Ronon!" he heard her shout, and his heart filled with dread. This was all so familiar. He turned, fearing what had happened before to happen again, but was astonished to see that Teyla was striding toward him confidently, with a smile on her face. Amazed, he looked around the clearing. All the Wraith had disappeared, even the ones they had already killed.

He was still looking around in wonder when he felt her tap his shoulder. He turned. There she was, looking tired but happy, smiling up at him with a look that made his heart race.

He smiled back at her, hesitatingly at first, then his smile turned into a grin and he began to laugh. Putting his arms around her waist, he picked her up in a gigantic bear-hug and swung her around, causing her to join him in laughter.

When he put her down she did not move her hands from his arms, rather she slid them up to his shoulders, thence to his neck, pulling his lips down gently to meet hers in a passionate kiss.

He responded by wrapping his arms around her, one hand wrapping itself in her hair, the other slipping under the hem of her shirt to rest on her back. His fingers gently stroked her skin, raising goosebumps, but she didn't notice, being completely occupied by the rush of emotions she was feeling. Love, happiness, friendship, but most of all relief. After all, this was still a dream, but she knew that it was a dream they both shared.

As if reading her thoughts, she felt Ronon smile, the corners of his mouth turning up as he kissed her senseless. She smiled too, as she began to wake up, because she could still feel his mouth on hers, his hand in her hair, and she knew that although they were conscious, they were living the dream.

"I intend to make this dream a reality," she heard him murmur, and she laughed.

"That would be acceptable," she whispered, and they were lost forever in the dream.

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A/N: OMG FINALLY! Sheesh. Dontcha just wish they'd do something like that on the show? Be a nice change from the usual, you know, "go offworld/get attacked by Wraith sooner or later", or "Rodney finds an Ancient device/breaks it/has to fix it before something blows up/fixes it", and meanwhile Ronon and Teyla are just sort of standing there exchanging "meaningful glances". Mrgh. Sometimes the sexual tension is so palpable you could cut it with a knife. I'm sitting there staring at the screen, and all I can think is "argh, just GET ON WITH IT AND KISS HER!"

Anyway. Enough ranting. Review please, makes me write prettier!


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